Modern Mining May 2015

COMPANIES

finding that more and more clients are recep- tive to the EPC delivery model.” He adds that EPC

delivery takes a certain culture. “We see EPCM companies trying to con- vert to EPC but it’s a huge cultural change for them. To be successful you need an appetite for risk, a ‘can-do’ approach and a willingness to innovate to achieve cost and time savings. These are quali- ties that Sedgman has in abundance. Being able to come up with a smarter solution and then deliver it with certainty – that’s the core of the Sedgman offering.” Elaborating on van Barneveld’s comments, Kent van Twest says that another key differen- tiator separating Sedgman from its competitors is the amount of time it puts into engineering. “We take it to a greater level to ensure that there are no surprises once we start construction,” he observes. “In addition, we place great emphasis on modularising components and sub-systems with a view to reducing the build time on site. This not only has a positive impact on costs but also, of course, on safety.” As regards procurement, Danie Coetzee – who, as his name suggests, hails from South Africa although he is now based in Perth – points out that part of Sedgman’s strategy is low-cost sourcing. “We have gone through quite a learning curve to understand what it means to source out of Asia but the result is that we now have excellent procedures and systems in place. Our office in Shanghai operates as our Procurement Hub and is able to source a huge range of quality products that benefit from the lower manufacturing costs in China and other parts of Asia,” he says. On the subject of Sedgman’s delivery model, he stresses that clients and potential clients in the African region should have no reservations about the group’s ability to deliver projects any- where on the continent. “The fact that we are now operating only a ‘Create’ office in South Africa in no way limits our ability to execute African projects,” he maintains. “Executing globally is what we do and in fact is entirely rou- tine. For example, one of our current major EPC projects is for the Aurora gold project in Guyana in South America. We will shortly be complet- ing this US$134 million contract which has seen

the construction of a gold processing plant on a very remote site – it is accessed by a 180 km long logging track inland from Buck Hall – but we are well used to challenges of this type.” He adds that the project has thus far enjoyed a superla- tive safety record, with over a million LTI free hours having recently been achieved. Finally, and looking ahead, Berger says that one of the messages he wants to get across to the local mining market is the breadth of Sedgman’s expertise. “We still sometimes come across the perception that Sedgman is primarily a coal specialist with only limited experience of other commodities,” he says. “This is simply not true. The group started to move away from a dependence on coal nearly a decade ago and is now active in most metals and minerals. “Here in Africa it has worked in copper, not only in Botswana – as we’ve mentioned – but also the DRC, while globally recent contract awards show the extent of the diversification. For example, in Australia we secured our first major iron ore order – for a 7,5 Mt/a plant for Fortescue Metals – in July last year and later in the year we won another EPC contract, worth nearly A$60 million, from Alcoa of Australia for a filtration plant at its Kwinana alumina refinery. We’re also working on a A$133 mil- lion EPC contract in the manganese field in Australia and this year we’ve won two con- tracts – both from the same client in the US – for mineral sands treatment facilities. “The result is that Sedgman is now deriving more than half of its turnover from outside the coal sector for the first time in its history. So it truly is a versatile group with the ability to work across a range of commodities. This ver- satility will be a strength in Africa given the diversity of the continent’s minerals sector.” 

The 800 t/h Benga Coal Handling and Preparation Plant (CHPP) near Tete in Mozambique.

“... we place great emphasis on modularising components and sub-systems with a view to reducing the build time on site. This not only has a positive impact on costs but also, of course, on safety.” Kent van Twest, Group Manager Engineering, Sedgman

May 2015  MODERN MINING  37